Chapter 74: Hero
Bai Mo sat on the northern edge of the defensive line, leisurely observing the charging beast tide with his Divine Sense as if he were a casual bystander. As long as they didn't approach within twenty meters of him, he paid them no mind.
However, these mutated creatures that had landed almost entirely operated on mere biological instinct. Or rather, driven mad by hunger, they had lost even the most basic logic of distinguishing strength, charging only towards anything that felt edible. Within the beast tide's vast army, instances of mutual devouring within the ranks would occasionally occur.
As the beast tide's width far exceeded that of the defensive line, both flanks came under immense pressure, slowly and actively transforming from a straight line into a bow shape to balance the strain on both ends.
"Get inside, quickly!" A defending soldier, upon receiving the order to change formation, still thought to remind Bai Mo. However, Bai Mo didn't seem to react.
Several seconds passed before Bai Mo, snapping out of his thoughts, realized that as the defensive line contracted, he had shifted from the northern flank of the straight line to the outer side of the curved formation. Only then did he unhurriedly stroll towards the new boundary of the bow.
By this time, countless mutated creatures had already broken through layers of firepower from the flank, breaching to within about thirty meters of the boundary.
The two flanks of the bow formation continued to contract in an orderly fashion, transforming into a circular hedgehog array.
"The disparity in forces between the two sides is too great, and the mutated creatures' exposed area to firepower is also far smaller than that of humans. Hitting a person with a gun is clearly not on the same level of difficulty as hitting a crab crawling on the ground."
While Bai Mo was still slowly walking towards the defensive line, the vanguard of mutated creatures had already swept past him, engulfing him in an ocean of "populace." Yet, Bai Mo stood like a reef in a turbulent current; no matter how many mutated creatures crashed against him, he remained unshaken.
Mutated crabs with their carapaces blown off by self-destruction were visible everywhere, and mutated shrimp, their heads and shells self-detonated to leave only their exposed meat, would occasionally fly into the defensive line. The morale of the soldiers within the northern flank's defensive line, originally suppressed by the vast numerical superiority of the enemy, mostly surged again after witnessing such a battlefield meat grinder.
Casually picking up a mutated crab with his psychokinesis to observe and study it, Bai Mo confirmed that the twenty-meter radius around him remained the death zone for mutated creatures. He had no intention of pursuing them; the massacre of zombies two days prior had made him deeply weary of such repetitive labor.
"The shell's hardness has improved somewhat, but that's all," Bai Mo deduced, comparing it to his past experiences of eating crabs. "I wonder if there will be any peculiar changes under conditions of strong radiation and high-concentration Spirit Qi."
To verify his hypothesis, Bai Mo took a few mutated creatures and walked once again towards the epicenter of the nuclear explosion.
By this time, many mutated creatures that had slipped through had already crossed the defensive line and surged into Rome.
"Looks like there's no need to verify," Bai Mo remarked, casually crushing the few mutated creatures he had intended to use as samples. He then re-entered Rome city proper, his hands now empty.
"Sir," a nearby soldier called out hastily, seeing Bai Mo prepare to leave. "We're under immense pressure here. Could we please ask you not to leave just yet?"
Several surrounding companies had all witnessed Bai Mo's ghost-god-like performance—all mutated creatures that approached within twenty meters of him spontaneously self-destructed, none spared. He hadn't even lifted a finger.
"Seeing as you were going to let me into the defensive line just now, I'll give you thirty seconds," Bai Mo said, pointing at the soldier who had called out for him to get in earlier.
"Thirty seconds? What do you mean?"
"You cease fire for thirty seconds, and I will kill all the mutated creatures in this area."
"Sir, are you joking?" the company commander asked, simultaneously directing his troops to retreat.
"Believe it or not, I'll give you ten seconds to consider." Bai Mo had no intention of explaining.
"Alright!" The officer decided to agree to Bai Mo's request this once, based on his earlier display.
"First, second, and third companies, cease fire, full-speed retreat!" The officer immediately gave the order after making his decision. He had still prepared for both eventualities; even if Bai Mo truly failed, his men could retreat to a location with enough reaction distance to reorganize their defense.
Bai Mo nodded to the officer, then turned to directly face the beast tide, charging towards the massive surge at a speed exceeding one hundred and fifty meters per second.
Just as God parted the Red Sea, Bai Mo plunged into the ocean of mutated beasts, straight-forwardly cleaving the entire tide into two halves, leaving a forty-meter wide void in the middle. Mutated creatures in his path were either self-detonated or flung far away by his psychokinesis.
After spending ten seconds punching through a mutated beast tide over a kilometer deep, Bai Mo continued to rampage through the cease-fire zone. Aside from dodging the occasional aerial bomb dropping from above, he fearlessly weaved left and right, zigzagging to eliminate everything in his path. The movement speed of the mutated beasts was, to him, completely negligible.
Another ten seconds later, all the mutated beasts charging at the very front had been "given a haircut" by Bai Mo. Enjoying himself, he even used psychokinesis to control air currents, attempting to simulate the effect of a tornado. Unfortunately, his control precision wasn't yet sufficient, and he only managed to create straight-moving gales.
"It's a pity my area-clearing ability is still far inferior to Ye Zi and Chen Bo. With one move like 'Ice Age,' there would be very few mutated creatures left moving on the field; or like Chen Bo's heating field with a radius of over a hundred meters, soon there would be an endless supply of live roasted seafood. My psychokinesis radius is only a little over twenty meters, its advantage lies only in its versatility," Bai Mo thought, still attempting to conjure a tornado.
Bai Mo didn't consider that Ye Zi's ultimate area-clearing move required emptying all the Spirit Energy from her body; he was simply making a direct comparison.
"Failed again." He helplessly let the disobedient air he was controlling dissipate.
Repeated failures left him quite displeased, so he simply practiced controlling it again and again amidst the beast horde, even forgetting the thirty-second agreement he had just made. Throughout his practice, he unconsciously continued clearing the beast tide.
Later on, news of Bai Mo's promise spread south from the northern flank's companies, and his clearing range grew larger and larger. A single person, unconsciously, ended up blocking a portion of the beast tide two kilometers wide.
He swept back and forth along an arc, like a car's windshield wiper, constantly wiping away the "rainwater" surging from behind. Yet, Bai Mo's primary attention remained focused on conjuring the tornado.
More and more soldiers, witnessing the once-aggressive beast tide being forced back by a single person, were so shocked they stopped shooting. They were, after all, afraid that their suppressive fire might hit their hero...
Comments